Guest ON3GO Posted May 19, 2003 Share Posted May 19, 2003 Hey guys. me and a few friends were looking at my friends RX7 (1st gen) today. he is doing a V8 swap in it. well i noticed that the guy thats doing the swap made the engine bay soooooo clean, it looked empty kinda.... and i like that. and if you go to the Nicest Z 2 thread you will see a goldish Z with such a clean looking engine bay. So how would i go about doing that to my Z when doing the swap? thanks mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest ON3GO Posted May 21, 2003 Share Posted May 21, 2003 any ideas? mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Georgia Flash Posted May 21, 2003 Share Posted May 21, 2003 I'm with ya brother on that subject. Nothing looks better than a nice neat and tidy engine bay. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest greimann Posted May 21, 2003 Share Posted May 21, 2003 A clean engine compartment is all about attention details, patience and the willingness to spend some money on the right materials. The main thing that makes an engine compartment messy are the wires and hoses. Careful attention to routing path, straightness, the use of proper clips and coverings, all add up to a neat job. Also maintaining a consistent theme of color and texture are important. Blue wire loom, chrome air cleaner, red hose fittings Aluminum manifold don't play well because nothing matches. Would you have that color scheme on the outside of your car? No, because it looks like a circus clown got sucked up by the fan and scattered about compartment. Look at the spark plug wires in the following pictures. Why does one look better than the other? Look at other examples of cars you admire. Try to figure out what makes them look they way they do and copy it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest ON3GO Posted May 21, 2003 Share Posted May 21, 2003 very nice, me like 2nd pic . But how in gods name did they clean up the engine bay on that gold'ish Z in the Nicest Z 2.0 thread? Because there wasint one wire at all. mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sparky Posted May 21, 2003 Share Posted May 21, 2003 I did alot on my 240ZT, and now im working on the 73 i just bought. minimal is always good! your going for a sanitary look, While the white Jspec Z with the workwheels, and the J-spec super Z (the gunmetal grey car) are Extremes of this approach. But with a little work you can still have a nice clean looking Z. When doing something like this, You must consider if it hurt reliability of your car, Or if it makes it harder to repair in a crunch. so once you figure that out, You can go for it. when you take the engine out, sit on the cross member and look around. you will see many things you can move and remove. On my 240ZT, I bought a spot weld cutter and removed and bracket that was attached to the frame rail (specifically the old CARB feed and return lines.) i ran new fuel lines coming right up the firewall into a nice regulator, and ran the return right from the reg. This really cleans things up. If you take off your fender, You will notice that there is a channel that goes underneath them it runs from the firewall, to the front of the fender near the coil mount. On the drivers Side I ran all my FI wiring in the channel, I also put my Ballist resistor in there. This really cleans up as well. I also mounted my coil on the head where the Fuel pump should go. I ran all the wiring in a polished Alum tube that wraps around the head. (PS heat and vibration will kill coils.) But since i dont drive the car everyday, it doesnt really matter to me. I also cut apart the sleeving on my wiring harness, And move every relay, or Voltage reg or fusible link into a nice little box in the glove compartment. This also really cleaned up the frame rail. when you remove all those brackets, that leaves you with many holes where things used to be. I took a long while welding up all those little holes. Now on the 73 im working on now. Im removing ALL the wiring from the engine compartment. How am i doing this? well, Im running the main part of the harness (that goes to the headlights and such) through the fresh air intake system. I drilled a large hole in the passenger side plastic vent thing, and ran all my wiring through that it goes all the way to the front radiator support and out the fresh air intake. (you dont even know its there!) I sealed up the hole i made with a grommet and some sealer, that way the fresh air intake can still function as normal. On the drivers side im running all the wiring in the channel under the fender. Now your going to have to splice and add to the harness to make some things work. (drivers side lights) but you can do it. Its oh so easy. Once again the J-super Zs are extremes. I Made mine so that it wasnt impossible to work on, but still looked clean. But my next Z will be a super Z, I just need to get my degree first. laterZ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xander Posted February 8, 2011 Share Posted February 8, 2011 Sparky, can you share some pictures of how you routed the lichting harnas thru the air duct. I would love to clean up my enginebay. I am even thinking about rerouting the brakelines so that they can't be seen. Xw Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oddmanout84 Posted February 9, 2011 Share Posted February 9, 2011 (edited) BRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAIIINS!! Seriously though, its not too hard, just time consuming. Label and disconnect your wire harness and other plumbing and test fit over and over to see if it fits and looks good. If it doesn't either deal with it and compromise for something a little less than ideal (but still functional and neat) or pony up and buy the needed parts to make it the way you want it. Just don't get so obsessed with hiding wires and lines that you forget to use proper isolation mounts and such, especially when it comes to SS braided lines and electrical wires. They tend to eat through each other when they touch for a long time, and the end result isn't pretty. In a helicopter, an insulated electrical wire will "eat" through an adjacent hardline carrying 1500-3000psi of normally non-flammable hydraulic fluid. The end result is a red mist aerosol that will most certainly turn into a gigantic fireball when exposed to a source of ignition (like electrical generators or the wire itself). Think about that when running fuel lines especially. Edited February 9, 2011 by Oddmanout84 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
19762802+2 Posted February 9, 2011 Share Posted February 9, 2011 This is one of the oldest threads that has gotten bumped that I have seen in a while, I mean this thread was posted 8 years ago. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oddmanout84 Posted February 9, 2011 Share Posted February 9, 2011 Play him off, keyboard cat. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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